Improvement in burial-cases



1. MPH.

BURIAL-CASE.

N0.189,-Z47. Patented April 3,1877.

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N. PETERS. FHOTO-UTNOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. ,ED. C.

Urvrrnn STATES E T rrrcr.

ELISHA METS, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN BURlAL-CASES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 189,247, dated April 3, 1877; application filed March 1, 1877.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ELISIIA hints, of the city of Rochester, iu the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Burial-Cases, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a-plan of the floor or bottom of the case or coffin. I Fig. 2 is the edge or side of the same. Fig. 3 shows the top of the coffin, and Fig. 4 is a side of the same.

My invention relates to improvements in coffins or burial-cases; and its object is to utilize the loose detached floor of the coffin for the laying-out board, and thereby to facilitate depositing the corpse in the coffin.

It consists in a burial-case or coffin having (for the convenience of laying out the corpse, and for depositing the same in the coflin) its floor loose and detached from the upright sides.

After the bottomless coffin is applied over the corpse, its sides resting on its floor, an intervening and partially-sunken rubber bead is inserted, and vertical screw-bolts, extending through from out to out of the case, are inserted, thereby confining all its parts together, producing an air-tight coffin,

In the illustrations, Figure 1 represents, in a horizontal position, a detached coffin-bottom, having the corpse, as customary preparatory to its burial, before depositing it in the coffin, laid out thereon. V

B is a rubber bead, sunk about threefourths of its diameter in a previously-prepared circular groove, which extends fully around the top disk of the bottom, answeringto the outline of the lower edge of the bottomless case. S S are cleats, guiding the lower edge of the coffins sides to their position, so as to rest squarely on the said head, and, at the same time, preventing displacement by pressing inward, while L L are inside screw-bolts, vertically extending through from out to out of the case, by which means, together with said rubber bead and cleats, the coffin, when all its parts, by means of said screws, are brought in position, becomes a water-tight receptacle. The hexagonal nuts h, of any design or finish, screw down onto the points of the bolts L, by which, after the corpse is deposited in the coffin, all its parts are firmly held together. '1 is a tube, having suitable valves at each end, by means of which and an air-pump the internal air is ejected from the receptacle, and any an tiseptic gas is injected to occupy its place.

To construct a burial case or casket embracing my improvement, its floor, for any plain or fancy design, having any kind of a lid, by a molding of preferred pattern, worked or planted on its edge, projects beyond its vertical sides, as desired, and the circular groove, for embedding the rubber head, is sunk in the disk of the same, so that when the shell of the coffin is in position its bottom edge shall cover and press down on the bead about a fourth of its diameter, for this purpose standing out above the surface of the floor. Then the cleats are attached at such points, so that when the sides of the case are in position they will impinge against the cleats, as well as the bead, becoming thereby, at the same time, a guide, giving rigidity to and preventing their inward movement. Suitable perforations, at proper points just within said groove, are then made through the floor for the screw-bolts, and countersunk on its under side. The bottomless case now, having been constructed of any contour, or in any style, and prepared for the reception of said screw-bolts, and also provided with said eduction and induction tubes, is applied over the floor, rubber bead, and bolt perforations, when the bolts themselves are inserted from its under side, nuts applied to their tops, and turned down, as desired, but are left loose, to be afterward easily removed.

The operation of the invention is as follows: Said top nuts are turned back, releasing at the same time both the screw-bolts and shell from its floor or the bottom of the case, which shell is then lifted off and set aside, leaving the detached floor at liberty to be used as a laying-out board for the corpse. After the corpse is laid out the shell, as desired, is replaced over the corpse, and the nuts turned down to place, thereby furnishing an air-tight receptacle, as before described. I

For introducing antiseptic gas into the cell the ordinary air-pump is first attached to the tube T, by which the internal air is exhausted. Then, by means customarily used for injecting air, understood by those skilled in the art to which it appertains, the preservative gas is injected into the receptacle.

Having now described my improvement, What I claim, and for which I ask of the United States Letters Patent, is-

The cofiin havinga removable bottom for a laying-out board, and the rubber bead B, em- 

